Barry Ferguson’s infamous feud with former Rangers boss Paul Le Guen started over the legendary captain eating BEANS for his pre-match meal, according to ex Light Blues striker Ross McCormack.
French flop boss Le Guen arrived in Glasgow with a big reputation in the summer of 2006 after successful spells with Rennes and Lyon but lasted just seven months in Govan after an ill-fated 31-game spell in charge. He didn’t see eye to eye with Ferguson after accusing the fans favourite of undermining him him in the dressing room and he was stripped of the captaincy. Ferguson, though, has always maintained: “I never once undermined him.”
McCormack, who came through the ranks at Ibrox, was told by Le Guen that he didn’t have a future at the club but just a week before heading for the exit and signing for Motherwell he witnessed an early incident between Ferguson and Le Guen which he believes was the start of the deterioration in the manager-captain relationship.
Le Guen’s first game in charge of Rangers was a 2-0 victory over Linfield in Belfast in a pre-season friendly. Ferguson was back at the Light Blues in his second spell having left for Blackburn Rovers and McCormack, speaking on the Open Goal podcast, said: “Fergie had obviously come back to the club and before they went to, I think it was Linfield for a pre-season game, they were in the canteen having their breakfast/pre-match.
“Fergie had toast and beans and he (Le Guen) walked up to Fergie and took his plate off the table while he was eating it, walked over to the bin, scraped the beans off and gave him the toast back and said ‘we don’t eat beans here’. And then obviously that’s how he sort of got f****d off Fergie and Gavin Rae became captain. That’s what it was over – beans.”
Breaking point came after defeat to Inverness Caley Thistle in the Highlands after the Light Blues had been leading and Ferguson delivered some home truths in the dressing room afterwards. Ferguson said previously: “Inverness bullied us that day. We went 1-0 up and they ended up winning 2-1.
“At that stage we’d had a couple of bad results, home and away. Paul Le Guen came into the dressing room and said ‘don’t worry, it’ll be alright if we all stick together’. It was about the sixth or seventh time we’d had a difficult result and I’d just had enough. I said ‘we’re Rangers and I got brought up with winning as the only thing – a defeat is never acceptable’.
“I never had an argument with him. I said a couple of things – maybe five or 10 seconds – and he just looked at me. As captain, I thought I had to say something, I was sitting down. A few of the other guys had a word to say. I never once undermined him. There’s a limit as a captain and as a player.”